A Review of Vine Writings in 2024 and What's Ahead in 2025
This site is dedicated to depth writing about Zen practice for folks like you who aspire to go deeply into the Buddha Way.
In the midst of reviewing our Ghost site's '24 writings, I asked Tetsugan Sensei, "How many of the posts do you think were critical of contemporary Zen?"
Without blinking an eye, she said, "Half."
Given that I have been critical of the current state of Zen practice for decades, and she's heard more than a few wheelbarrows full of such manure, that isn't too surprising of an answer. The data-driven answer, though, may surprise you as much as it did me. See below in '24 Vine Writing by the Numbers for the whole truth on this point.
In this post, you'll also find some writings that have been open only for paid subscribers that are now open to all subscribers. I'll also share what I regard as the most important post for 2024, in my opinion, and the runner-up. Finally, there'll also be a bit about what's coming in '25. Not that anybody really knows, of course.
However, as you may know, this site is dedicated to depth writing about Zen practice for folks like you who aspire to go deeply into the Buddha Way. We have had a surprisingly strong year of growth in subscribers, especially this past fall. These two posts brought in veritable throngs of free subscribers:
Dosho Port
Dosho Port
Frankly, I'm a bit puzzled that people would be interested in inka shomei, as it doesn't directly apply to most practitioners. I hesitated to write about it for that very reason. Still, good to see the subscriptions.
We also had steady growth in paid subscribers – thankfully! And recently there has been some unsolicited movement (the best kind) with paid subscribers moving from the "Friend" tier up to the "Supporter" and "Sustainer" tiers. Wow! Again, much appreciated.
Here are the numerical results of my review of '24 posts:
'24 Vine Writing By the Numbers
Three: the number of old masters – Wansong, Huineng, and Zhiyi – who appeared in more than twenty posts in descending order of frequency. Dogen, feel the pain! Although, old boy, you did come in a distant fourth.
Five: the posts that unpacked the teaching of the Sixteen Bodhisattva Precepts (three of those were about sex, just fyi).
Seven: the posts that addressed specific methods for zazen (aka, stopping and seeing) like the four types of breath and the four features of thinking.
Eight: the number of posts (14%) that were critical of contemporary Zen (see, Tetsugan Sensei, not even close to half!). Turns out that most of the writing hereabouts was focused on the positive – methods or perspectives for how to actually do Zen practice.
Twelve: the posts that unpacked the teaching of The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Ancestor.
Thirteen: the posts that included translations of koans and commentaries from The Record of Going Easy (Japanese, Shoyoroku).
Fourteen: the posts open just for paid subscribers (warning: this number will go up in '25, so act now if you're not already a paid subscriber).
Fifteen: the posts that included PDFs with substantial original translations.
Seventeen: the posts open to all.
Twenty-five: the posts that included my original translations of classical Zen teachings.
Twenty-six: the posts open to free subscribers and paid subscribers.
Fifty-seven: the number of posts with writing of substance in '24 (not including invitations to Sunday Dharma Talks, Sesshins, One-day sittings, reviews of Vine writings, etc.).
1,496: the average word count for posts in '24 (not including PDFs).
85,252: the total words for '24's fifty-seven posts (not including PDFs or this post); by comparison, my latest book had 57,040:
Posts now open to all subscribers, free and paid
As I reviewed the writing from '24, I noticed a few posts that were just for paid subscribers that could be helpful for other practitioners, so as a year-end gift, these are now open to all subscribers:
Dosho Port
Dosho Port
Dosho Port
The most important post in '24
I selected this post because it focuses on zazen, of course, and from the perspective of the Sixth Ancestor. Of the various zazen manuals kicking around in Zen circles, it's surprising to me that this manual has largely been ignored, especially as it offers clear instructions for awakening. I've added a PDF to this one now so it'll be easier to study and recite without my comments:
Dosho Port
Runner-up for the most important post
I can't decide, so I offer two. The first is for long-time practitioners who have yet to have a definitive breakthrough. They're a bunch that are often ignored in the Zen narrative:
Dosho Port
And the second might be especially important for those in leadership in Zen organizations or those of you looking for a Zen group. It shares a perspective that's quite different than what you'll find in most Zen centers these days:
Dosho Port
What's coming in '25?
Although I don't pretend to know what will happen in '25, I'm confident that here on the Vine Ghost site there will be original translations of and commentaries on koans. First up will be "Shushan's Eternal-Life Stupa" – a nanto (difficult-to-pass through) koan that haunted me for years and came up again during my recent solo retreat. Turns out that a small part of the reason it haunted me is that I've worked with hazy translations, so I did my best to fix that.
In late February, the Vine of Obstacles Zen training group will return to and finish up with our study of The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Ancestor. I'm confident that there'll be some posts about that because I often write about issues related to our teaching and engagement with Vine students.
And in '25, there will probably be a change in what I offer for the monthly original translation for paid subscribers. As I near the end of translating The Record of Going Easy, I would like to provide a vehicle for students and general readers to delve more fully into the koans and Wansong's powerful teaching – something more than publishing another book or just tossing out PDFs here like I have been doing.
I'm thinking about offering a more engaging venue that would include interviews with koan teachers on the cases, short talks, recordings of the translations, focused conversations, and/or other ways to make these wonderful teachings accessible. I'm now giving serious consideration to starting a separate site for The Record of Going Easy translations. More on that after I finish translating the last fifteen of the one-hundred commentaries, probably in the spring after our April sesshin.
Invitation to engage
Paid subscribers: you are welcome to comment. What Vine post was most important for your practice in '24? What would be a helpful topic for us to address in '25?
Coming Soon
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